I've made so many addenda to my original version of this I think it's time for a new start. Tesla has done lots of what I suggested (although there's little evidence they listen to me).
I-5 improvements: There are a bunch of biggish gaps. The worst would be solved by adding a station near Roseburg, OR (it's 138 miles from Springfield to Grants Pass, but southbound it's uphill, so when it's cold, my car drinks about 190 miles of rated range). A station near Longview, WA, would allow Seattle<->California travelers like me to stop only once on the way to Eugene instead of two as today, and relieve some of the present crowding at Centralia. Mount Shasta and Grants Pass are only four berths--more are needed. Better would be to add sites: Ashland or Yreka, perhaps?
We really need superchargers close to Seattle, and to a lesser degree, Portland. Where these are important is for out-of-towners doing one-day visits. The new pricing model may help this, because it will inhibit locals from doing their daily charging there. (Although there needs to be a better option for people who can't get a home charger for some reason. Home charging is the single best thing about an electric car, I think). A charger near Seattle is also needed for people trying to get to Ellensburg and points east from Burlington or Centralia.
Olympic Peninsula: Aberdeen is under construction. Something is needed between Sequim and Forks. Dare I ask for both? (There's a CHAdeMO in Port Angeles and several J1772s and 14-50s in RV places, but more is needed)
North Cascades: Route 20 (which is closed for the winter as I write this) is one of the prettiest drives anywhere. Plug-in North Central Washington has been installing 70+ amp L2 J1772s (Newhalem, Winthrop, Twisp, Omak, Pateros, Waterville, Wenatchee, Coles Corner near Leavenworth, probably more), many of which are free and seem to be well maintained, which is awesome, but that's about 5 hours of waiting between Ellensburg and Burlington even if you have dual chargers. Put a supercharger at Twisp or Winthrop, and Leavenworth. Make sure there's plenty of destination charging at the Stevens Pass ski resort (there appears to be none at present)
Slightly related: Ellensburg is too small (5 stalls) and is often ICEd. It's the logical place though. Alternatives are needed. One possibility would be to put a new supercharger in Cle Elum, which would relieve the pressure in Ellensburg and take 30 miles off a Seattle to Leavenworth trip via Snoqualmie Pass. Another one in George or Moses Lake. There's often a queue in Ellensburg after a show at the gorge.
South Cascades: Seattle or Tacoma to Mount Rainier Crystal Mountain is right on the limit and Seattle-Paradise is about 110 mountain miles each way. Too far, but only a little. There are NO destination chargers listed on plugshare for either route or the ski resort. A few restaurants would do well to add a charger anywhere along there--an hour at 40 amps would make a big difference. There are several NEMA 14-50s (and one 10-50) on US-12. A start but not good enough. A supercharger somewhere near Packwood would open this route up.
There needs to be a reasonably direct route between Reno and Spokane. Right now you need to go west to I-5 (over 300 miles out of your way) or east almost to Salt Lake (even more). Two suggestions. The simple one would be to put a charger at Burns Junction, where US-95 and OR-78 meet. Traffic is probably so light it could be a single supercharger. A prettier and slightly more direct (but not really shorter) option would be to use US-97 and/or 395. A start has been made on US-97 with Bend and Klamath, OR. It's 250 mountainous miles between Klamath and Reno, so there should probably be two more. Susanville, and probably somewhere around Bieber, Adin or Alturas.
101 is technically complete, but Eureka<->Ukiah is 156 hilly miles, which is a problem when it's cold and wet. Also, CA 1 through Mendocino and Fort Bragg are a lovely, albeit twisty drive. I'm thinking a charger in Leggett on 101 and another near Point Arena or Sea Ranch. Maybe Bodega Bay? (that's where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed)
I-80. Nebraska, which a few weeks ago had zero superchargers, will soon have four, all on I-80. Another 3 or 4 in southern Wyoming and I-80 will be complete.
I-15 is almost complete. Lima, MT is almost finished but progress has stopped for almost two months. There should be at least two more, one near Great Falls and one either near the border on I-15 or at East Glacier Village on US-2. I'm very happy that they put one at West Yellowstone and in Jackson, which almost makes the park accessible.
TransCanada Highway. You can get from Vancouver to Calgary but then it just stops...and doesn't start up again until you're almost to Toronto. Over 2000 miles/3300km.
I am mystified why I-94 is taking so long. It's fossil fuel country--perhaps it's local intransigence.
Something similar may be happening with I-10.
Route 66 is now complete, Chicago to L.A and all the cities named in the song have a supercharger in or in the town next door. Another great driving song, Little Feat's "Willin", has four named cities: Tuscon, Tucumcari, Tehachapi and Tonopah. The only one without a supercharger is Tuscon, which is the next logical place on I-10. Tehachapi's is 15 miles away, which is close enough, I think.
addenda 23Feb2017
Progress is happening on I-10. It is now possible to get to El Paso, TX and a charger is planned for there. After that there will be a gap through Tuscon 370 miles long, which will take 2 or 3 new chargers.
The Michigan Upper Peninsula is presently unreachable. Mackinaw is 175 fairly flat miles from Bay City on I-75, which is 276 miles along the lake shore to Green Bay. I'd put one first somewhere near Mackinaw, then midway to Green Bay, for example at Escanaba. The UP is beautiful country--it's worth a trip.
It seems to me that there would be something appropriate about having a charger at the Grand Coulee Dam. It's not a high traffic area but it's pretty much where the electricity comes from here in the northwest. Plugshare says there's a NEMA 14-50 at an RV park near there but that's it. It's 117 miles from Coeur d'Alene and 120 from Ellensburg, so it's already a sort of reasonable place. In any case, there surely should be a few J1772s at the visitor center even if they don't spring for a Tesla Supercharger.
No comments:
Post a Comment